INTRODUCTION
Thank you for taking the time to visit my site. You visiting this site indicated you have an interest in St Johns Reformatory, its history and most probably its ghost stories. But I might disappoint a few of you viewing this site as I will be looking at the real St Johns. The real story of what took place between 1897 and 1909.
For the general public St Johns Reformatory came to life in September 2001 with a documentary titled "The Most Haunted Town in Australia" narrated and directed by Warwick Moss was aired for the first time on commercial television putting the small rural town Kapunda in South Australia on the world stage. Within days hundreds of budding ghost hunters and enthusiasts headed to Kapunda from all over Australia. People were swarming through the ruins of St Johns Reformatory and cemetery. As a result a number of graves were damaged or vandalised and there were some very disturbing parties and dubious activities that took place at the reformatory ruins by some very irresponsible and stupid people. Eventually the crowds stopped coming and St Johns was once more peaceful with only a few visitors still walking its grounds in the hop to see one of its ghosts talked about in the documentary.
The documentary , I will say was well made and entertaining about 70% true to the original manuscript that it was based on by Researcher and author Kevin Mc Neil. There were a number of inaccuracies and exaggerations as it was made for entertainment for the average person who enjoyed a good ghost story. It was suggested that "girls had being murdered babies aborted by a crazed priest and buried on the grounds" . These comments were briefly mentioned in the documentary, and this aspect of the story took on a life of its own and was headlined, then misinterpreted on many websites and in a number of publications. and this would become the focus for the haunting of St Johns. In reality there is no evidence these events ever took place and when you read this site you will be introduced to a more factual story that occurred at St Johns Reformatory.
I have been researching St Johns Reformatory for seven years, assisting the original researcher Kevin McNeil who started the research in 1995. Sadly he passed away in Victoria in late 2009 and is sadly missed. The main reason I have put this site together is to dispel the rubbish that is out there about this important historical site. Yes there was a priest who was mentally ill and young girl named Ruby Bland who died under suspicious circumstances but she died in the Kapunda Hospital. There did appear to be a cover up by the Catholic Church and the State Government of the time.
I should now introduce myself, my name is Jeff Fausch an I live in Adelaide South Australia. I have had a passion for the paranormal for as long as I can remember. I got into the field in 2001 and joined a local paranormal group but found their methods questionable, so co-foundered with Alison Oborn "Paranormal Field Investigators" in early 2002. In 2006 I left PFI to take on other projects, one of the projects that had a high priority was the St Johns Reformatory Research Project. My interest originally began because of the paranormal phenomena that had been reported and my own personal observations of unexplained happening that I encountered while investigating St Johns as apart of PFI. But over time my focus changed as I spent more time researching the historical aspects of St Johns with Kevin McNeil. This was more than just a ghost story its a true story about the death of a 18 year of girl under suspicious circumstances, a mentally unstable priest who was unsupervised by his superiors. The Josephites who attempted to help troubled teenagers become better individuals but were hindered by the events that were taking place at St Johns and the closing down of the reformatory to avoid any scandal that could have embarrassed both the Catholic Church and the South Australian Government.
As with any research project there are still many gaps in the St Johns story to be filled. Information can change or on occasions prove to be wrong or inaccurate but I am constantly trying to locate new data or correct it.
So I hope you enjoy your visit to this site and feel free to give me your thoughts about this site.
For the general public St Johns Reformatory came to life in September 2001 with a documentary titled "The Most Haunted Town in Australia" narrated and directed by Warwick Moss was aired for the first time on commercial television putting the small rural town Kapunda in South Australia on the world stage. Within days hundreds of budding ghost hunters and enthusiasts headed to Kapunda from all over Australia. People were swarming through the ruins of St Johns Reformatory and cemetery. As a result a number of graves were damaged or vandalised and there were some very disturbing parties and dubious activities that took place at the reformatory ruins by some very irresponsible and stupid people. Eventually the crowds stopped coming and St Johns was once more peaceful with only a few visitors still walking its grounds in the hop to see one of its ghosts talked about in the documentary.
The documentary , I will say was well made and entertaining about 70% true to the original manuscript that it was based on by Researcher and author Kevin Mc Neil. There were a number of inaccuracies and exaggerations as it was made for entertainment for the average person who enjoyed a good ghost story. It was suggested that "girls had being murdered babies aborted by a crazed priest and buried on the grounds" . These comments were briefly mentioned in the documentary, and this aspect of the story took on a life of its own and was headlined, then misinterpreted on many websites and in a number of publications. and this would become the focus for the haunting of St Johns. In reality there is no evidence these events ever took place and when you read this site you will be introduced to a more factual story that occurred at St Johns Reformatory.
I have been researching St Johns Reformatory for seven years, assisting the original researcher Kevin McNeil who started the research in 1995. Sadly he passed away in Victoria in late 2009 and is sadly missed. The main reason I have put this site together is to dispel the rubbish that is out there about this important historical site. Yes there was a priest who was mentally ill and young girl named Ruby Bland who died under suspicious circumstances but she died in the Kapunda Hospital. There did appear to be a cover up by the Catholic Church and the State Government of the time.
I should now introduce myself, my name is Jeff Fausch an I live in Adelaide South Australia. I have had a passion for the paranormal for as long as I can remember. I got into the field in 2001 and joined a local paranormal group but found their methods questionable, so co-foundered with Alison Oborn "Paranormal Field Investigators" in early 2002. In 2006 I left PFI to take on other projects, one of the projects that had a high priority was the St Johns Reformatory Research Project. My interest originally began because of the paranormal phenomena that had been reported and my own personal observations of unexplained happening that I encountered while investigating St Johns as apart of PFI. But over time my focus changed as I spent more time researching the historical aspects of St Johns with Kevin McNeil. This was more than just a ghost story its a true story about the death of a 18 year of girl under suspicious circumstances, a mentally unstable priest who was unsupervised by his superiors. The Josephites who attempted to help troubled teenagers become better individuals but were hindered by the events that were taking place at St Johns and the closing down of the reformatory to avoid any scandal that could have embarrassed both the Catholic Church and the South Australian Government.
As with any research project there are still many gaps in the St Johns story to be filled. Information can change or on occasions prove to be wrong or inaccurate but I am constantly trying to locate new data or correct it.
So I hope you enjoy your visit to this site and feel free to give me your thoughts about this site.
THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF SAINT JOHNS In 1849 Fr. Fallon was sent to Kapunda as the resident Catholic priest. The Catholic Church had been granted government glebe land three miles south-east of Kapunda and it was here Fr. Fallon decided to build Kapunda's first church, to be named Saint John the Evangelist, later to be known as Saint Johns. The foundation stone was laided on the 4th April 1850. The church was not completed until 1854 as the announcement of the Victorian gold strike of early 1850 caused the workforce to drop tools and rush of to Ballarat to make their fortunes. This was not to be the end of the church's problems as Kapunda's Catholic's experienced difficulty in getting to Saint Johns particulary when the River Light was in flood.
In 1860 Fr. Fallon died of Apoplexy becoming the first ordained Catholic priest to die in South Australia. he was buried in Saint Johns church grounds however his remains were later moved to Saint Johns cemetery. After his death it was found that he owned 300 pounds to creditors. Within eight years, another three ordained priests were to die at Saint Johns and presbytery (presbytery would later become the reformatory). Rev. Michael Ryann died in 1865, Fr. Jeremiah Moyniham in 1867 and Fr. Hayrick in 1868. All three priests died from natural causes but all died suddenly. Because of all the problems experienced by parishioners in getting to Saint Johns Church, Rev. Michael Ryann was busy looking for a more suitable location to build a church in Kapunda itself. He decided on a block of land east of the mine owned by Dr. Blood and in 1860 all services were transferred from Saint Johns to a large stable on the block. The Saint Rose of Lima foundation stone was laded on the 13th July 1862. The church was ready for its first service on the 8th February 1863. Unfortunately Fr. Rynn was in and out of court over short comings in the performance of the contract for the building of the church. This took a great toll on Rev. Ryann's health and he died shortly after the completion of the Saint Rose's Church (second priest to die) Mary Mackillop and the Sisters of Saint Joseph conducted a day school from the early 1860s. Mary Mackillop was a frequent visitor to Saint Johns and Kapunda in her capacity as a Catholic School Supervisor during this time.With the building of a new school in 1881, the Saint Johns day-school was closed down and all the children were transferred. In 1897 Archbishop O'Reily (Archbishop of Adelaide) asked Mary Mackillop to supervise the renovations and create a girls reformatory at Saint Johns for three months until the renovations were complete. The reformatory did not have a happy history according to the "Kapunda Herald Newspaper" of the day. There were many escapes by the girls in the early days of the reformatory. They would often cut the telephone line that was connected directly to the Kapunda Police Station before escaping. Escapes became became so frequent that the Sisters found it necessary to convert two of the rooms of the reformatory into cells to act as a deterrent. The reformatory was under the charge of the State's Children Council who gave financial assistance. About 120 girls passed through the reformatory before its closure in 1909. On the 29th November 1909 Saint Johns Reformatory was closed and the remaining girls were sent to Redruth Reformatory in Burra South Australia. The Sisters of Saint Joseph were sent back to Adelaide. The Catholic Church then abandoned the Saint Johns site and in 1946 the Saint Johns Church was demolished and the reformatory fell into a crumbling ruin. In 2002, a year after the documentary "The Most Haunted Town in Australia" was aired the Catholic Church demolished what was left of the reformatory ruins; stating safety concerns. |